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INFORMATION SHEET HUNSLET NARROW GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE No. 4 Hunslet 4-6-0T working at North Eaton Mill, Mackay circa 1960. Souce: Jim Longworth Collection Light railways were being used for military purposes as early as the 1850s, with the French and German armies using 600mm gauge railways to maintain supplies to fixed defensive positions along their borders. When the German advance was halted in the early stages of World War I an extended period of trench warfare caused severe problems in maintaining supplies. The deadlock saw the use of artillery on a scale never seen before. The German attack on Verdun in 1916 required 13 trains to bring in 2,500,000 artillery shells for the bombardment. Standard gauge railheads close to the front were impractical as these came within range of enemy artillery. The volume of supplies required to be shifted was beyond the capacity of available road transport, which destroyed the primitive roads making them all but impassable. A Railway Operating Division formed by the British Army in 1916, placed orders with a number of manufacturers for material, so a light railway system could be built to connect the standard gauge railheads with the front lines. The track gauge was the same as that being used by the French and Germans. The Hunslet Engine Company supplied a total of 115 4-6-0T locomotives over a period of two years commencing in 1916. These locomotives were highly prized by those army units which received them. The large numbers of locomotives required however, was well beyond the capacity of the company to produce, as it took them over a year to build the first 75 locomotives. The Baldwin Locomotive Works produced 495 similar locomotives for the British War Office in the same period without impairing their normal production work. Many of these locomotives had a very short working life due to the activity of enemy artillery and frequent capture during enemy advances. Allied forces would often sabotage locomotives, rather than let them fall into enemy hands. In France during September 1917, there were 546 steam locomotives, 355 petrol locomotives, 4,322 wagons, 623 miles of track in operation and 210,808 tons of supplies were carried. Hunslet supplied builder’s number 1239, in November 1916, however details of its service history during the war in France are largely unknown at this stage. Following the end of World War I it was sold to the Queensland Government on the 15 June 1920 and despatched to the North Eton sugar mill near Mackay, where it was given the number ‘4’. No.4 worked hauling sugar cane to the mill for crushing until displaced from haulage duties in 1964, following the delivery of new diesel locomotives. It was then placed on display in Langford Park at Eton. The locomotive deteriorated considerably during its open air display and was removed to under cover storage by the Mackay Sugar Co-operative Association in 1999. Mackay Sugar generously donated No.4 to The Workshops Rail Museum in 2005. The museum is planning to restore and research the locomotive in preparation for a new display in the future. Specifications (as built) Builder Hunslet Engine Co, Leeds, England Builder’s Number 1239 Year Built 1916 Wheel Arrangement 4-6-0T Cylinders 9 ½ inches x 12 inches (diameter x stroke) Boiler Pressure 160 psi Driving Wheel (Dia.) 24 inches Weight in Working Order 14 tons 1 cwt Coal Capacity 15 cwt Water Capacity 375 gallons Tractive Effort (@ 75% BP) 5,415 lbs Date Issued/Revised: 30/06/2005 Compiled by D. J. Mewes, Assistant Curator © The Workshops Rail Museum – a campus of the Queensland Museum .

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